My Feral Lady Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The harm of eight hours sleep and cooler heads  

“You are going to be home by eleven right?”

“Mom!” Adam whined. 

“Ten?” Cat grew an overly pleased grin. 

“Mom, please! The concert doesn't even start till eight and it is an hour and a half drive back!” 

“Oh.” Cat paused with a wicked taunt teetering on her tongue. "Then you really shouldn't be arguing, should you? Or else you won't even get to hear the first song." 

"Mom! Please really! I'm really excited, it's my favorite band, plus. It’s extra safe!” 

“Oh really? Hows that Adam?” 

“It is just up in Boston, a city I know well because half of our extended family lives up there, furthermore, if anything does go wrong I have Aunt Ellie and Uncle Adam to call!”

“You can always call him. No matter what you need.” Cat emphasized. “My brother is a good man.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know I got named after him for a reason.” Adam nodded along to a story he had already heard a hundred times. “Plus! I’m going with friends, I have extra money for a cab if-”

“If you have one sip!” 

“If Kevin has a drink, not me. Course not me, never me!” Adam rushed to defend with a tense grin. 

“Mhmm? Then what exactly do you call that party you went to on your sixteenth birthday?” 

“I call it … uugh! You swore you would never bring that up again as a sweet sixteen present!” Adam stammered. 

“I did.” Cat sighed, knowing she was soon to be losing the high ground.

“Please, I promise I’ll be safe. Plus, I aced that math test!”

“Midnight.” Cat yielded. 

“One?” Adam winced. 

“If you are a minute past one!” 

“Love you mom! Love you so much!” Adam feigned hearing his friend’s car horn beacon him out of the home as he rushed out before his mother could change her mind. 

The former omega wolf was left to sigh, thoroughly stressed at the prospect of her eldest son out at a concert unsupervised. With his friends or not, she liked nothing of this, nothing at all. It was one thing to see her baby boy rubbing off to a concert where there could be god only knows what, and a multitude of pressures and temptations to accompany what might be there. She, like her parents, had always been rather strict with her children, doing her absolute best at all times in an effort to make sure they were safe and well taken care of, safe. She and she assumed, her parents as well, felt a duty to rear her children to the absolute best of her capabilities, and if not then beyond. It wasn't simply the pressure which she put on herself, it was the pressure of the whole pack. The singular exception of Samantha and Ruby, she was the only one of their whole pack who could actually have children, be given that gift. The whole pack’s long term survival rested entirely on her shoulders; well her’s and Raymond’s until recently, but now it was all back down to being on her shoulders. If that wasn't enough to keep Cat paralyzed sleepless in bed on each of her nights, there was the ever further growing terror of her children growing older. It would never not be enough to keep her up at night, the idea of her son, a hormone-fueled teenage werewolf? One who if he made the mistake of getting into bed with the wrong person, of slipping up in the slightest and biting them just a little too hard? Now that was true undying nightmare fuel, endlessly keeping Cat up in a cold sweat of what in the world would happen if her BABY BOY were to be tied, mated to someone he barely knew for the rest of his life just because he was horny, drunk, and a little bitey at a concert or a party. “Uugh! No! No! He won't! He won't!” Cat shuttered and assured herself half-heartedly. 

“Yo-hooo Add-em! You ready?!” Kevin waived Adam in with an over the top greeting, the back door to his van opening for the young wolf, one of the passengers, opening the door for him. 

“Shut the fuck up idiot! Do you want my mom to run out here screaming? She is looking for any good reason not to let me go!” Adam snarled and climbed up into the van before slamming the door behind him, fearful his mother might change her mind if she saw that his ride was so rambunctious. 

“Chill the fuck out man!” The front passenger seat's occupant laughed it off. 

“Please go before she starts running out of the house going on about how concerts are too dangerous!” Adam slid down in his seat, hiding his face against the car door, simply praying that Cat wouldn't change her mind. 

“Hey Adam?” The teenage girl who opened the door for him wore an innocent smile as she waved hello. 

“Hey Tess.” Adam chuckled embarrassed at the woman waving to him, thoughts and worries of Cat suddenly changing her mind slipping away as he buckled himself in next to her despite there being an extra seat which he could have left between them. “I… I, uugh, I didn't know that you would be coming tonight!” He stammered embarrassed. “Thought you said you didn't have the money?”

“Well, I heard that you were coming and I just had to tag along.” She scooched closer to him in the already cramped back seating. 

“Well, I’m really glad you tagged along.” Adam inched in closer as well. 

“So?” “So!” The two taking up the front seats were eager to flash inquisitive eyes at Adam through the rearview mirror. “Sooo!” The repeated in unison for the third time. 

“So?” Tessa giggled at the two’s eagerness and the clear hint of fear it brought to Adam’s face. 

“So?” Adam yelped out, feeling beyond put on the spot. 

“You bring it?”

“Yeah, you bring it?”

“D! Did I bring it!?” Adam stuttered. “Did I bring it? Did I bring it.” He attempted to buy time as it felt like all eyes were lingering on him with an intensity which only grew. 

“Come on man! You had to bring it!”

“Pfft, yeah Adam!” 

“Uugh!” His eyes darted around anxiously until he noticed the look Tessa was giving him. 

“It… It’s really no fun if you didn't bring it.” Tessa tilted her head and threw her voice, leaning over and walking her fingers up Adam’s arm. 

The wolf’s jaw dropped dumbfounded. 

“Really Adam, you had to bring IT!” She popped the final word as she finished. 

“Oh fuck.” Adam knew something about it all was off, but his wolf didn't care so much.

The two in the front seats snickered.

“You two are such assholes! I can't believe you made me do that!” Tessa angrily kicked the seat in front of her.” 

The upfront peanut gallery broke out into hyena-like laughter-filled howls. 

“Worth every penny!” 

“Every single one!” The two high fived and then one of them passed back a ticket to the concert for Tessa. 

“What the hell!” Adam snapped, his face wearing a burgundy of embarrassment and anger. 

“Adam, I’m sorry!” Tess broke from the seduction the moment she had the tickets in her hand. “ Fuck I’m so so sorry!” 

“What the hell is wrong with you three!”

“Calm down bro, it was just a joke.” 

“Yeah man, it was just a joke!” 

“I thought you three were expecting me to have drugs or something!” 

“Told you!” The driver sung. 

“Damnit!” The passenger snaked a twenty from his pocket and handed it off. “My money was on that you’d think we meant alcohol.” 

“What the fuck is wrong with you!” Adam repeated himself, still in shock. 

“They said they would pay for my ticket if I-” 

“Yeah, yeah, I get it, all my friends are sick fucks!” Adam growled under his breath, ripping his seat belt off and retreating away from the woman who had been toying with him. 

“Really, Adam, I’m sor-” 

“I don't wanna hear it Tess!” he scrunched himself against the car door opposite Tessa and buckled himself in, furiously fuming as quietly as he could. 

“Aww, don't be like that man, we were just joking, it was only a prank!” 

“Fuck off Kevin! Just drive!” Adam pouted and kicked his friend’s seat from behind him. 

The three did their best to calm and console their friend; however save for Tessa, their best was rather terrible and consisted of more belittling Adam’s feelings than anything actually resembling an apology. The wolf simply simmered silently sitting solitarily secluded in the corner of the van, ignoring all of his friends, and even the girl he had so recently been delighted in the flirting of. He stayed like that, tucked away infuriated all the way out to the concert venue. Once they arrived he hopped angrily out of the car, storming off without even a word to his friends. 

“Aww! Come back! You can’t really still be mad!” He could hear Kevin call from behind him as he speed-walked away, not wanting to give them the satisfaction of seeing him actually running away. 

“Adam, Adam, Adam please! I’m sorry! Fuck! You assholes! I can't believe I let you two talk me into doing this!” He almost felt a twinge of guilt at ignoring her after the whole ordeal at the sound of Tessa pleading for forgiveness and for him to return followed by her frustration at his friends who put her up to it all. But she and the rest of them were easy to block out in the near-deafening cacophony of odors that filled the path towards the concert hall and emanated from its insides. 

Adam pushed himself past the crowd of people waiting for friends and or just chattering outside, idly wasting time before they entered the venue. The greater the distance he could put between them the better for all he cared. All he hoped was that he could successfully evade the three for the entirety of the concert. "Can't believe they fuckin-" 

"Ticket sir?" A slightly off-put employee requested of him. 

"I! Oh uugh! Yeah!" Adam patted down his pockets for his ticket, locating it, fishing it out, and offering it up. "I! Sorry. Sorry about that." 

"ID?" She ignored his apology. 

"Huh?" 

"Your ID card sir?" 

"What?"

"I need to see your driver's license or ID if you would like to drink." 

"Oh! Gotcha!" Adam paused, going to take out his wallet as well. "Wait! I'm! I! Don't worry about it, I don't wanna drink." He waived off, realizing she thought he was twenty-one or older, and not wanting to be seen as having tried to mislead her. 

"Ok." She shrugged. "Enjoy the show.” 

“Uugh, yeah, thanks.” Adam pocketed his ticket and settled himself, finally getting to take a breath. The venue seemed to be set up in a semicircle, built with the stage and an open area for the concert goers to gather and converse until the band started, and then to dance and potentially even form a mosh pit if the concert went well. The stage and open area only took up about seventy-five percent of the concert hall tho, the rest was occupied by an obviously lacking amount of chairs for those who needed or wanted to sit down, and a small hall partitioned off away from the rest. The thin wall which separates the two, running all the way along the building’s half-circle design was near certainly for the purpose of turning the concert area’s noise from a deafening concoction of off-pitch singing, overbalanced base, and supercharged stereo powered vocals down to an incessantly loud background of indiscernible white noise just loud enough to prevent anyone from thinking quite hard enough to doubt whether or not fifty dollars was a good price for a band branded t-shirt. 

The venue was already near deafening in certain areas when Adam stepped in. It was all enough to make him wish he could direct his sensitive wolf ears anywhere but towards the boisterous crowd beginning to gather closer towards the stage. Checking his phone to see he had another good twenty minutes before the openers started. Adam decided that he could spare a moment or two in order to grab a drink, and maybe a snack too. Dear lord, just anything to get the sour taste of his friends fucking with his emotions out of his mouth. 

Ginger ale, Ginger ale and peanuts, twelve dollars worth of one glass ginger ale and barely more than a handful of peanuts, that was his order. Logically it seemed like the best pairing of his options as far as something to calm his knotted stomach and stressed superhuman senses. Adam had not realized how stressed his short breaths had been until he got a clearing whiff of the ginger soda. Just enough to give him a whole half breath, to help him clear his head and nose just enough to finally untense his shoulders. For a moment, realizing how tense he was, he really wished his ginger ale could be something stronger despite the heinous memory of alcohol overindulgence from his sixteenth which normally made him despise the simple idea. Nearly dipping his nose straight into the solo cup filled with ginger ale Adam took is first deep and calming breath since he had hopped into Kevin’s van. His shoulders finally dropped, the apprehension which had permeated his every teenage anxiety-filled cell melted away, even if only for a moment. He finished with a final sip at the drink, something small as to ensure he would still have the drink to use as comfort should the overcrowded odors of the concert start getting to him again. It was only after he pulled the drink away that the most familiar of scents finally hit him. Something he had always known, since the moment of his birth, a cent that had always felt like his home, Wolf. 

End of Chapter 12